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New Yorkers want a more just, respectful health care system—and they have concrete ideas for how to get there, according to a new study by CUNY SPH researchers.
As part of the Health Equity and Access to Care (HEAC) project, researchers including CUNY SPH doctoral candidate Silpa Srinivasulu, Professor Diana Romero, and alumnae Dari Goldman and Samantha Weckesser gathered community perspectives across New York City to understand how residents experience and perceive inequities in care.
The team found that de facto segregation by race and insurance type persists in New York City hospitals and clinics, shaping where people receive care and the quality of services they receive. Participants described how insurance status, neighborhood factors, and racial identity often determine access to specialists, appointment timeliness, and the condition of facilities.
Residents reported feeling disrespected, rushed, or dismissed in health care encounters, particularly Black and Latino patients and those with public insurance. Many described long wait times, difficulty navigating referrals, and limited language access as routine barriers that discourage them from seeking care until problems become urgent.
Participants called for a range of changes across interpersonal, community, organizational, and structural levels, including improving accountability for segregated care patterns, investing in safety-net hospitals and clinics, streamlining health system inefficiencies, soliciting and utilizing community feedback, and more. They also emphasized the need for more culturally concordant providers, stronger interpreter services, and community partnerships to rebuild trust and make care more responsive to neighborhood needs.
“New Yorkers are clear: segregation in our health care system is not an abstract policy problem, it shows up in their everyday experiences of where they can go for care, how long they wait, and how respectfully they are treated,” says lead author Srinivasulu. “People are not just naming problems—they are offering concrete solutions at every level of health care to build a system that treats every New Yorker with dignity.”
